Grayson tipped his head in a follow-me gesture and started toward the front of the building to the dispatcher’s desk, where Tina was packaging the diary for the courier.
“Did you find something in the diary?” Nate demanded.
“No. But Tina did fax copies, so we might know something soon.” Grayson went toward the computer on Tina’s desk. “While you were on the phone, I got a call from Kade. About twenty minutes ago, Ramirez was spotted on a security camera at a gas station off the highway. Less than five miles from town.”
Oh, mercy. That was way too close for comfort. “Is Kade going out there to try to arrest him?”
Grayson shook his head. “Ramirez is already gone.” He turned the computer monitor so Nate could see the feed from the security camera.
Yeah. It was Ramirez, all right, standing under the sliver of the overhanging roof of the gas station. And he wasn’t alone. There was another broad-shouldered man with him. Both were wearing baseball caps and raincoats, but the bulkiness in their pockets indicated they were carrying weapons.
“We have this image and a description of the vehicle,” Grayson pointed out, tapping the black four-door sedan stopped in front of the gas station.
But not just parked. It was directly in the line of sight of the security camera. Nate watched as Ramirez looked up at the camera.
Ramirez smiled.
The anger slammed through him, and Nate wished he could reach through the screen and teach this moron a hard lesson about endangering babies.
“What’s he doing there, anyway?” Nate asked. Because it was clear Ramirez wasn’t filling up the car or buying something.
“He’s leaving a message,” Grayson mumbled.
Yeah. That was obvious. “And that message is he’s begging for me to go after him.”
“Not quite.”
Since Nate hadn’t expected to hear Grayson say that, he snapped toward him. “What do you mean?”
“Just watch,” Grayson instructed.
Nate did, and his heart started to ram against his chest. Within seconds, Ramirez pulled a folded piece of paper from his raincoat pocket, lifted it toward the camera and then tucked it into the glass door. He gave the camera one last smile, and the men got into the vehicle and sped away.
Not quietly.
The tires howled against the wet concrete and created enough noise to get the clerk’s attention. The young man hurried to the door, opened it and caught the note before it dropped to the ground. He read it, his eyes widening with each passing second, and then he raced back into the station and grabbed the phone.
“The clerk called nine-one-one,” Grayson supplied. “And in turn the dispatcher called here. He read me the note.” Grayson took the notepad from the desk and handed it to Nate.
He knew this wouldn’t be good, and Nate tried to brace himself for the worst.
But the message turned Nate’s blood to ice.
Nate Ryland and Darcy Burkhart, you killed my brother and my men. This is no longer a job. It’s personal, and I’m coming after both of you. Get ready to die.
“Uh, guys,” Tina said, “I think we have a problem.”
At first Nate thought she was talking about the note. Yeah, it was a problem, all right. A big one. But Tina was looking out the window.
“There.” Tina tipped her head to the building just up the street.
The rain was spitting on the glass, but Nate could still see the shadowy figure using the emergency ladder on the side of the hardware store. The guy was climbing onto the roof.
And Nate reached for his gun.
“Wait,” Grayson warned. “The windows here are tinted. He can’t see us to shoot inside.”
Grayson was right. Besides, the guy wasn’t in a shooting stance. Once he reached the roof, he dropped onto his belly and pressed binoculars to his eyes.
“Recognize him?” Grayson asked.
Yeah. Nate did. It was the man who’d been with Ramirez on the surveillance footage. Nate automatically glanced around, looking for the man who’d just threatened to kill Darcy and him.
But Ramirez was nowhere in sight.
“You going out there?” Tina asked them.
“No,” Grayson and Nate said in unison.
“Not right now,” Nate finished.
Good. Grayson and he were on the same page, and Nate knew what he had to do. Darcy wasn’t going to like it. Heck,
he
didn’t like it. But it was necessary if he had any chance of keeping all of them out of the path of a killer.
Chapter Thirteen
Darcy read the note again. And again.
Each time it felt as if the words were razor-sharp knives slicing through her. A monster, a cold-blooded killer, was coming after Nate and her.
“I won’t let him get to you,” she heard Nate say.
Darcy believed that Nate would try. But Ramirez wasn’t just after her. He was after Nate, as well.
She tore her attention from the note and looked at Nate, who was seated next to her. He’d made her sit on the sofa in the second-floor apartment at the sheriff’s office before he’d handed her the note, and that was probably a good thing. After reading it, her legs were too wobbly to stand.
“We have a plan,” Grayson explained. He was standing, his hands on his hips. Grace was behind him, seated on the floor and playing with the babies, trying to keep them occupied.
“Please tell me that plan includes making sure the children are safe.” Darcy’s voice cracked, and she hated feeling scared out of her mind for Noah and Kimmie. Nate, too.
“It does,” Nate assured her. “We’re going to set a trap for Ramirez.” He caught her shoulders and waited until they’d made eye contact. “And I’ll be the bait.”
Oh, mercy.
That required her to take a deep breath. Thankfully, Grayson continued so she didn’t have to ask about the details of this plan, which she already knew she didn’t like. She wouldn’t approve of anything where Nate made himself bait.
“First, we’ve made arrangements to move Grace, you and the children. We’ll secretly take all of you to a safe house in a neighboring town, where both Mel and I will be with them. So will the town’s sheriff and the deputy.”
Okay. The security was a good start, but it wasn’t enough. Maybe nothing would be with Nate’s life at stake. And that required another deep breath.
“Secretly,”
Nate repeated. “Someone is watching the building.”
“Who?” she immediately wanted to know. “Not Ramirez?” Darcy would have jumped off the sofa if Nate hadn’t kept hold of her.
“No. It’s a man who was on the surveillance video with him. Right now, he’s on the roof of the hardware store just up the street. The dispatcher spotted him there about an hour ago. Once we knew he was there, Grayson and I sat down and came up with this plan.”
Darcy shook her head. “Why don’t you just arrest him? Make him tell you where Ramirez is.”
“We considered it,” Grayson explained. “But we figured the guy would die before giving up his boss. And we don’t want a gunfight with the children here. So we decided to make it work for us.”
“How?” she wanted to know.
“Soon, it’ll be dark, and Nate will pretend to leave. It’s raining so we’ll give him a big umbrella and bundles of something to carry. It’ll look as if he has the children with him, but actually we’ll sneak them and you out through the back and into my SUV. Kade will be here as additional protection just in case this guy comes off the roof. But we don’t think he will.”
Darcy tried to think that through. She wished her thoughts would settle down so she could figure out why this sounded so wrong. “You think he’ll report to Ramirez that Nate’s left and then he’ll follow him?”
Nate nodded. “He’ll follow me to the ranch. Ramirez will, too, and that’s where we’ll set the trap for them.”
“The ranch?” she challenged. Now, she came off the sofa. “Your family is there.”
Nate stood, slowly, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “We’ve already moved them. Eve, Kayla and Kayla’s son, Robbie, are already on their way to SAPD headquarters, where they’ll stay until this situation with Ramirez is resolved.”
Yes. And it wouldn’t be resolved until Ramirez was dead. Darcy got that part, and she got other things, too. “There’s a big flaw in your plan,” she told them, even though they already knew it. “If Ramirez wants us both dead, then he won’t be satisfied just trying to kill you. He’ll want to come after me, as well.”
Nate attempted a shrug but didn’t quite pull it off. “He might.”
“He
will,
” Darcy corrected. “And if Ramirez gets lucky and finds me, he’ll find the children, too.”
Neither Grayson nor Nate could deny that. “We won’t let Ramirez get near them.”
Darcy took a deep breath and braced herself for the argument they were about to have. An argument she would win because there was no way she was going to give Ramirez a reason to go after Kimmie and Noah again.
“There’s only one thing that makes sense—for both of us to lead Ramirez away from the children. Anything less than that puts them in danger.”
Nate’s jaw muscles stirred. “But coming with me puts you in danger.”
“Yes.” And she didn’t hesitate. “We know what has to be done here. You don’t have to like it. Heck, I don’t like it. But I won’t be tucked away at a safe house knowing that I could be putting our children in jeopardy.”
He opened his mouth, probably to continue the argument, but Darcy nipped it in the bud. “You can’t change my mind. I’m going with you.”
Nate looked at Grayson, who only huffed and mumbled something. Nate looked as if he wanted to mumble some profanity, but he didn’t. He sat down, his jaw muscles battling, and then he finally nodded.
Darcy tried not to look too relieved. It was easy to do, since she knew full well she was putting herself in the line of fire. Still, better her than the babies.
Nate simply nodded again. “If Ramirez knows we’re at the ranch, he’ll come after us so he can try to avenge his kid brother’s death. But we’ll be ready for him.”
“How?” she asked.
Nate eased her down onto the sofa, but they both glanced back when the children giggled. Grace was reading them a story and making funny voices. The laughter certainly helped Darcy’s nerves and reminded her of why this plan had to work.
“We think the man on the roof is the person who helped Ramirez escape. We also believe he’s the one who called Ramirez when he climbed over the fence. He probably told his boss to get out of there because he’d seen Dade and Mel driving out of the ranch. In other words, he’s Ramirez’s eyes and ears, and we want to feed this guy some info.”
“Bad info,” Grayson explained. “We want Ramirez to believe this storm has knocked out both the power and the security system for the ranch. We want him to come across that fence again. And when he does, we’ll have Kade and a half-dozen federal agents waiting.”
Darcy nodded but then thought of something. “What if Ramirez doesn’t use the fence? What if he uses the road and comes directly to the house?”
“Mason and I will be waiting for him,” Nate assured her. “And if he’s managed to hire more goons to come with him, then we’ll know because Kade will have someone watching the road.” He paused again. “It’s the fastest way to put an end to this.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Darcy couldn’t argue with the plan, either. Nate was a good cop, and she trusted him with her life. But she couldn’t discount that Ramirez was as driven to kill them as they were to stay alive and keep their children safe.
“How much time before you and the children leave for the safe house?” she asked Grayson.
He glanced out the window. “Not long.”
So, she needed to say her goodbyes. Darcy got up, forcing her legs to move, and she got down on the floor next to the children. Both Noah and Kimmie were still involved with the story, but Noah climbed into her lap. Kimmie babbled some happy sounds and did the same.
Everything was suddenly better.
And worse.
They had so much at stake. Darcy hugged the babies close to her. Kimmie might have sensed something was wrong because she kissed Darcy on the cheek and put her head on Darcy’s shoulder. The moment was pure magic, and Darcy realized she’d come to love this child as her own.
“I’ll just freshen up and get ready for the drive to the safe house,” Grace offered, and she disappeared into the bathroom, no doubt to give them some time alone.
Grayson mumbled something about having to make some calls and walked out, as well.
Nate sat down beside her, and Darcy expected Kimmie to switch to his lap, but she stayed put. It was Noah who made the shift when he spotted Nate’s shoulder holster. But Nate distracted her son by unclipping his badge from his belt and handing it to Noah.
“Oooo,” Noah babbled, obviously approving of the shiny object. He looked up at Nate and offered him a big grin.
The moment hit Darcy hard, partly because her son had never had a male figure in his life, and partly because everything seemed to fit. Kimmie in her arms. Noah in Nate’s. Her heart and body, burning for this man.